Thursday, December 20, 2012

The federal gift tax and estate tax exemptions are $5.12 million for gifts made or deaths occurring in 2012. If Congress does not act, the federal estate tax and gift tax exemptions will both drop back to $1 million and the top transfer tax rate will increase to 55% on January 1, 2013.

As 2012 draws to a close, many are focused on how to use all, or a significant portion, of the current $5.12 million gift tax exemption, rather than miss the opportunity that could disappear if congress fails to act and we fall off the “fiscal cliff” (or it acts to reduce the current level of exemption).

If you would like to fund your annual giving for missions, childcare ministries or other charitable causes for the next few years in a new and creative way and coordinate your charitable giving with a plan that allows you use as much as possible of the 2012 federal gift tax exemption amount to make gifts to your family, a charitable lead annuity trust may be a good giving plan to consider.

A charitable lead annuity trust (“CLAT”) is a giving plan that provides a fixed income stream to one or more charitable causes for a designated period of years. At the end of the trust term the trust remainder can either be returned to you (this is a “grantor lead trust”) or be distributed to your children and/or other family members (a “non-grantor lead trust”).

While a lifetime gift to a “non-grantor” CLAT does not entitle you to a charitable income tax deduction, it does provide a way to pass assets to your children or family at a reduced gift and estate tax cost.

Gift tax savings come from the fact the tax value of the future gift to your family is the present value of the remainder trust interest, not the full value of what you give to the trust. Estate tax savings result from the removal of the asset, any subsequent appreciation and the future income it generates from your estate.

Ask your legal and tax advisers how you should be planning for the possibility of reduced estate and gift tax exemptions. A CLAT may be the answer.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Spiritual discipline or development, that is – discipleship, is crucial to a growing faith, a maturing relationship with the living Lord and a lifestyle of being the salt of the earth and a light to the world. Christian parents and the church have the primary responsibilities of teaching and modeling discipleship. I had the benefit of both during my formative years and sought to bequeath the same to our children.

In the book, Transformational Discipleship, the authors describe a “discipleship deficiency” that is plaguing the church today. I agree with their assessment. The results of a recent survey by LifeWay Research of Protestant churchgoers also confirmed this descriptor. Among the results were: (1) 19 percent read the Bible daily compared to 68 percent of pet owners who exercised their pets daily; (2) 48 percent pray daily compared to 49 percent of Americans who floss daily; and (3) 55 percent had not memorized a Bible verse in the past 6 months.

Included in his new book, A Legacy of Faith, Dr. Eugene Enlow, Pastor Emeritus of Louisville’s Beechmont Baptist Church, is a chapter on “Why the Church Still Matters.” He characterized this discipleship deficiency as an imbalance that stems from a dearth of sound teaching as well as church members’ lack of acknowledgment of the need for spiritual instruction. Enlow reminds us of the old six-point accountability system by which we checked whether or not we were on time and had studied the Sunday School lesson, had brought our bible and an offering, and were attending the worship service. When that system was abandoned, nothing replaced it to instill a sense of obligation, responsibility and commitment, thus, discipleship deficiency.

Henry Blackaby stated his assessment of the discipleship deficiency this way: “The heart of the Great Commission and discipleship is to teach them to practice everything I have commanded you … and if we want to have a resurgence in the Great Commission, there’s got to be a refocusing on the priorities of Christ for discipleship.”

At the heart of discipleship is financial stewardship about which Jesus had more to say than any other discipline. The mission of the KBF is to teach disciples of Jesus Christ how to obey the biblical mandates of financial stewardship, particularly estate stewardship. Please give us the privilege of assisting you in discipleship sufficiency through your estate plan.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

Monday, December 3, 2012

By: Barry G. Allen- President & CEO IMB president Tom Elliff has posed the following question to each of us Southern Baptists, “Does anyone in the darkest corners of this broken world have a legitimate reason to believe that because you care, someone will soon be there with the gospel?” Wow! I trust his question gets your attention like it got mine.

In Matthew 9:35-36 we find Jesus going through all the towns and villages teaching, proclaiming the good news and healing; and when he saw the crowds he had compassion because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then in verses 37-38 Jesus said to his disciples then and to us, his disciples today, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

The harvest Jesus is calling us to lift up our eyes and see consists of 7 billion people, 330 million in the USA and 6.67 billion outside the USA. The IMB estimates more than half the world’s population only has a slight chance to hear the gospel, and 1.7 billion are likely to die without ever hearing the name of Jesus. Two people die every second. The equivalent of a city of 150,600 people disappears into eternity every 24 hours. Without Christ, they will be separated from God, forever lost. This is why “the fields are still white unto harvest.”

The IMB provides the best screening, training, sending and supporting of missionaries available anywhere in the evangelical world. And, people who are compassionate for the lost and passionate about taking the gospel to the ends of the earth are responding to the call to missions. But a reason “the workers are few” is the lack of financial resources to train, send and support those whom God is calling.

As you prayerfully ponder what you will give through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year, also consider including a missions component in your estate plan that will perpetuate your passion to reach the lost beyond your lifetime. Call Laurie Valentine or me to show how stewarding a portion of estate could support a missionary(s) for a day, a week, a month or a year.

For more information, please call us at (502) 489-3533 or toll free in KY at 1-(866) 489-3533

The information in this article is provided as general information and is not intended as legal or tax advice. For advice and assistance in specific cases, you should seek the advice of an attorney or other professional adviser.

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